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A fantastic second volume in this series – and every bit as ear-opening as the first! As you'd guess from the title, the book offers up a look at groundbreaking records from Brazil – and starts in the mid 70s, to run through the 80s – a period in Brazilian music that sometimes ... read moreBook

The best (truly – they got this book right) of Roctober gets a classy rock 'n' soul book compilation from Duke University Press – an incredible collection of interviews that were featured over the years in the great DIY magazine over the years! Interviews with musical legends who ... read moreBook

A stunning look at the great Mary Wells – one of Motown's first female acts of the 60s, and one of the decade's most important early soul figures as well! Mary's work on record is very well-known, but the story behind the music is completely different, and surprisingly dark at times – ... read moreBook

The rowdy road antics of the legendary Fab Four – captured here in a wealth of candid shots during their last two years of global touring – and presented here in glorious black and white! Photographer Harry Benson had unfettered access to the group during these years – and the ... read moreBook

Dara Birnbaum is a video artist, which means that her artwork is often not as easy to see as that of painters or photographers – who can be easily distilled into book, poster, or postcard format – yet this book does a pretty great job of providing an overview of Birnbaum's massive ... read moreBook

That's quite a cover photo on the book – and the interweaving of key talents in the image really gets at the style of the narrative within! Author Steven Blush delivers a decidedly one-sided document of the New York scene from the late 60s onward – a picture of countless creative ... read moreBook

Lou Reed gave us some mighty fascinating music over his many years of recording – and the man himself also led an equally fascinating life – one that's covered here in very great detail, in a hefty biography that begins with Reed's troubled life as a child, to his early years moving ... read moreBook

A massive look at the world of western swing in the 30s and 40s – a huge book that really gets past the big names, as you might guess from the "other" in the title! The first big part of the volume looks at southwestern swing bands up to the end of WWII – with individual ... read moreBook

You know her from Sleater-Kinney, you love her on Portlandia, and you'll soon discover that Carrie Brownstein is a hell of a writer, too – able to tell her tale with all the wit she's brought to recent TV work, but also with the kind of openly powerful words that she first gave us with her ... read moreBook

One of the greatest novels ever from the legendary William S Burroughs – a book that was written very much under the influence of the cut-up technique, but which also still retains some of the pulp prose of Burroughs' 50s material too! The book is a roller coaster of a read – one of ... read moreBook

60s brilliance from William S Burroughs – not only a key book in the development of his cut-up writing technique, but also a hell of a rollicking read from start to finish! As you'd guess from the cut-up, the writing is a bit fragmented – but that also serves to really abstract the sci ... read moreBook

American cities were going through tremendous changes in the 60s and 70s – changes that not only had an impact on local citizens, businesses, and municipal forces – but also on the art community as well! This book showcases a tremendous response to urban upheaval by artists in New York ... read moreBook

20 years of shots from the streets of Los Angeles – all done in a way that's a lot different than the usual sort of Hollywood images you might expect! Instead, photographer Gusmano Cesaretti spent his time in the farther reaches and on the streets – working with Chicano gangs, chicas, ... read moreBook

An incredibly dense book on the psychedelic scene of the 60s – a huge volume that not only looks at an impressive array of music, but also the wider trippy culture, too – but all with a level of text that goes far beyond most of the thinner volumes on the period! Many of the chapter ... read moreBook

A heady look at the life and work of Nam June Paik – the man who virtually invented video art at the end of the 60s, and went on to work in a range of other amazing media too! The core of the book features images from a large retrospective of Paik's career – stills from videos, ... read moreBook

Robert Christgau is one of the coolest music writers of all time – a hugely important force for decades, through his work in the Village Voice – where he helped shape acceptance and understanding of generations of new sounds – and a contributor to other publications and broadcast ... read moreBook

Way more than just a book – a massive document of the American jazz scene, circa 1960 – presented in an unbelievably beautiful package! The edition brings together photos from legendary jazz imagist William Claxton (known best for his Pacific Jazz album cover shots), mixed with ... read moreBook

One of the few English language looks we've ever seen at the music of Serge Gainsbourg – a well-penned biography that covers all of his classic years in a fair bit of detail! Author Alan Clayson does a good job of paying as much attention to the music as he does to Serge's celebrity – ... read moreBook

George Clinton tells his own story – the stuff of musical legend, from his early years in doo wop, through his mega-funk stardom in the 70s at the helm of the P-Funk universe, to his later years embroiled in legal battles and other issues that kept him away from creativity! Clinton's voice ... read moreBook

We've been living with the comics of Daniel Clowes for so many years, we sometimes forget how great he is – so fortunately, we've got this wonderful book to remind us of his genius all over again! Clowes is incredible – a comic stylist who's not only drunk deep of the best modes of the ... read moreBook

A stunningly vivid portrait of New York in the postwar years – a time when the city's already-strong hold on American culture was taken to its apex – as the city became home to some of the most important artists, actors, writers, and creative forces of the generation! The book is ... read moreBook

Stuart Cosgrove has turned us on to plenty of music over the years – we first began reading his NME articles many years back – and this time around, he delivers a wonderfully detailed history about his youth as a fanatic for American soul music on the UK scene! Cosgrove was lucky ... read moreBook

A wonderfully-written autobiography from Elvis Costello – a book that's not only completely illuminating for any fan of his music, but which stands quite strongly on his own, even if you're not a longtime fan of the man himself! The volume almost sets a new standard for musician ... read moreBook

The story of Charlie Parker is often draped in hyperbole and exaggeration – which is why it's extra great that this biography is handled by Stanley Crouch – one of the few writers we could trust to get past the hype and really find a way to link Parker's life and music! As you might ... read moreBook

One of the greatest soul music TV shows ever (and one that originated in Chicago, too!) – presented here in deep detail with loads of interesting stories and anecdotes too! The book's almost a more personal history of the show than a technical one – but that's OK with us, because it ... read moreBook

An amazing collection of 40s and 50s jazz drawings by Gene Deitch – the complete anthology of his work for legendary jazz magazine Record Changer! Gene was an amazing artist and cartoonist, whose work helped solidify the legacies of some of the most famous cartoon characters in the American ... read moreBook

The story of Hank Williams – written by Colin Escott, the man whose words we've loved in countless liner notes over the years – and who's an even better writer when he stretches things out in a full length format! Forget the cover image – which is designed to cash in on the 2015 ... read moreBook

Artist Obey created an amazing installation to draw awareness to climate change – a huge globe suspended in the middle of the Eiffel Tower, emblazoned with images to call attention to the worldwide crisis! This huge book not only replicates the artwork on the globe, but also offers up some ... read moreBook

A heavy-duty look at one of our favorite instruments of all time – the mighty Hammond Organ, a keyboard that forever changed the sound of jazz, soul, and even rock and roll on the US scene of the 50s, 60s, and 70s! The book is huge – a fully-illustrated history of the electric organ in ... read moreBook

There's no jukebox in the book – but instead, the hefty volume is overflowing with portraits of music legends from the past few decades – all shot in glorious black and white by photographer Christopher Felver, who seems to have a strong sense of sympathy for musicians in just about ... read moreBook

A very cool idea for a book – a "discobiografia" – a volume that's both a discography of the legendary Brazilian band Os Mutantes, and a biography of the group and all of its members, told through its music! The book's written by Chris Fuscaldo – a Brazilian musician ... read moreBook

A very detailed look at Arsenio Rodriguez – the Cuban legend who was a key part of the development of Latin music in both Havana and New York! The volume is quite well-researched, and looks at Arsenio with a lot more information than we've ever seen – in chapters that almost feel like ... read moreBook

The legendary Iceberg Slim has given us plenty of his own story over the years – but this book is the first to look at the man behind the man – writer Robert Beck, who started as a pimp and became a surprisingly successful author – as well as an underground figure who inspired a ... read moreBook

Ralph J Gleason might just be one of the coolest cats to ever write about music – a key part of the San Francisco scene during the postwar years – where his talents helped illuminate both the worlds of art and music during the beat generation – then really helped shine a spotlight ... read moreBook

The story of one of greatest soul singers of all time, and also one who is living a fascinating journey, to say the very least – the great Al Green! The Arkansas born, Memphis soul legend tells his story to music writer Davin Seay, from his years reinventing southern soul music through his ... read moreBook

A late 30s London novel about a party that never gets going – or a party-going that never gets to its destination – at least at a spiritual level! The short book details the efforts of a young group of higher-society Londoners, waiting to make it across the Channel for a party – ... read moreBook

A fascinating look at the world of Mexican music in the 20th Century – put together in collaboration with Arhoolie Records, the label that's done plenty to reissue the music over the years! The book begins with the huge archive of recordings by the label's founder, Chris Strachwitz – ... read moreBook

A beautiful book on the decades of recorded output from one of our favorite composers ever – the legendary Michel Legrand – an artist known to most folks for his famous soundtracks of the 60s and 70s – but also a jazz musician, singer, and even a very groovy instrumental arranger! ... read moreBook

Way more than just a simple book of record cover images – and instead a love letter to the sound and style of the disco generation – put together from classic album artwork, and augmented by thoughtful musings by the author! The book features full color reproductions of over 250 album ... read moreBook

A really great look at the complexity of Sarah Vaughn – a volume that balances equally between an understanding of her music and a look at her often-private life – with a fair bit more detail than we've ever seen before! Sarah was neither tragic nor as public as some of her ... read moreBook

The future of jazz is now, even if it's in the past – as the editors here bring together a selection of essays that document the forward-thinking movements in jazz from the mid 60s onwards – some of which are only getting full appreciation all these many years later! There's a nice ... read moreBook

A very cool book that goes deep into the world of some of the greatest cartoonists of the modern age – a lavish, full-color volume that presents unseen art from the private sketchbooks of some of the modern greats – including Joost Swarte, Seth, Gary Panter, Charles Burns, R Crumb, Kim ... read moreBook

Chinese detective fiction, but with a fascinating twist – a series of separate, but related crime stories – all involving a single detective – presented in reverse order from the present to the past! Written that way, the story takes on a completely different perspective than in ... read moreBook

The full story of Sandy Denny – one of the most important female voices to rise from the British scene at the end of the 60s – and a singer who left this planet all too soon! Author Mich Houghton previously gave us a fantastic look at Elektra Records, and this time around his writing ... read moreBook

A fascinating memoir from Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Margo Jefferson – her story of growing up black on the Chicago south side of the 50s and 60s – a world that's far richer and more complicated than most stereotypes of the city usually represent! Jefferson's father was a doctor, ... read moreBook

Take a trip back to 1967 – the glory days of the London fashion scene, when Carnaby Street styles were all the rage, and the city was having a huge impact on the world of style! A big part of London's impact was its selection of small shops and exclusive boutiques – and this book, ... read moreBook

The story of Mark Murphy – one of our favorite jazz singers of all time – written by Peter Jones, also a jazz singer himself! Jones is London-based, and as such, does a really great job of capturing the ongoing enthusiasm and excitement about Murphy's career that was always a big part ... read moreBook

A behind-the-scenes look at The Kinks – a group you'll know for their fantastic music of the 60s and 70s, but who also have a much larger tale behind their songs! The book certainly offers up plenty of history on the group, and strong appreciation of their music – but it also opens up ... read moreBook

The heady life and even hipper music of Sly Stone – told here by an author who managed to get Stone's participation on the project! The book focuses most strongly on Sly's rise to fame and key late 60s/early 70s years – a time when his records not only changed the face of soul music, ... read moreBook

A great look at the legendary Gennett Records – an important early force in the world of 78rpm recordings – and home to a great number of early jazz recordings too! Gennett was the offshoot of an Indiana piano factory – and like Paramount, a similarly far-flung company initially ... read moreBook

A Chicago legend finally gets his due – the legendary Herb Kent, who was known as the "Cool Gent" on radio – and also ended up working on TV, and also playing a big part in the city's steppers scene in the 90s! Herb was a real trailblazer – part of a Chicago generation ... read moreBook

George Jones is one of the most amazing talents in country music – and he was also one of the most messed-up cats on the Nashville scene – with a lifestyle and legend that maybe tops the decadence of some of the bigger rock stars of the 70s! Writer Rich Kienzle clearly loves Jones' ... read moreBook

A lavish art book on the Sex Pistols – the kind that Johnny Rotten would have gobbed at back in 1976 – but which we're more than happy to have all these many years later! Jon Savage provides a very detailed timeline of the group and their activities throughout the book – ... read moreBook

(Please note: These copies have some light wear, but are fine overall.)

A great celebration of the art of Atari – but not the images from the games on the screen, and instead the wealth of wonderful paintings and illustrations that were created for the boxes and marketing of the videogames back in the day! Given that most Atari games were pretty stark in design, ... read moreBook

A very well-written account of one of the most important musical streets in America – and one that get way past all the tourist hype and trappings of contemporary Beale Street in Memphis today! Instead, the author really goes back – to some of the much earlier years of the city, and ... read moreBook

A beautiful book on the dancehall scene in Jamaica – one that's done in a different style than some of the other Soul Jazz books – which are often focused more on album cover art! This book's got a very different approach – and is more an art book with photos of the dancehall ... read moreBook

Jonathan Lethem is a writer that we totally love – an author who's given us great novels and short stories over the years – and who, somehow between that ever-growing creative output, manages to write a good deal of essays and other articles too! We're not sure when Lethem ever finds ... read moreBook

A fantastic novel from Jonathan Lethem – and a book that's filled with so much that resonates with Dusty Groove – 70s soul, graffiti art, Brooklyn, and even superheroes – all tied together in a narrative that's completely engaging! Lethem does a great job of grabbing the spirit ... read moreBook

A mindblowing book from Jonathan Lethem – one that follows from his early work in a sci fi mode, but which has a much stronger realist sensibility overall! The story tells the tale of a Brooklyn mobster, but one cursed with Tourette's Syndrome – a disease that's mostly understood from ... read moreBook

The title's a great way of looking at the music – because although cumbia first started in Colombia, it quickly spread across Latin America and up to the US – where it's been a mighty popular style in recent decades! The book features essays by a number of different authors, each ... read moreBook

Maybe the best book we've ever seen on the secret world of sound library music – those non-commercial recordings that are made away from the public, then lent out for later use in radio, film, and TV! Over the years, crate-diggers have brought a new sort of appreciation to sound library ... read moreBook

Louvin Brother Charlie tells the tale of his famous duo with brother Ira – a match that was almost a Cain and Abel of country music – given that Charlie and Ira Louvin sometimes sat at opposite moral poles on the spectrum! The story's as tragic as any of the best early songs by the ... read moreBook

Chicago house music was underground right from the start – mostly hosted in secret urban spaces, long before the nightclubs were willing to take a chance on the revolutionary new music! As such, street-level communication was the way that most folks found out about the DJs and events tied to ... read moreBook

A stunning selection of rare jazz photographs, most of which have never been seen before – all shot at the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals during the 1960s, with a span across the decade that really shows a shift in sound and style! The book has way more than just shots of big name ... read moreBook

A nicely global look at the history of comics over the past 50 years – one that assumes from the start that the graphic medium is a worldwide one, which allows the authors to quickly move past overdone coverage of American giants from the time! The book begins in 1968 – a time when ... read moreBook

An incredible document of the legendary Mingering Mike – the self-styled 70s soul superstar who never recorded any music, but created a huge body of work on hand-drawn record sleeves and 45s! Mike's story has been told briefly before in Wax Poetics, but this book really gets to the full ... read moreBook

A very cool book – and way different than you might expect from the title – as the discography doesn't only focus on contemporary ambient albums, but instead traces a history of moody sounds from the late 50s onwards! The publication is one of the most interesting Japanese ... read moreBook

The roots of house music and beyond – a mighty cool discography that does a special job of locating the music many years before it first exploded in Chicago and Detroit, then following it for many years after that, through a host of global scenes and styles! The publication is a discography, ... read moreBook

A comprehensive guide to the club jazz sound of the past 25 years or so – that sweet blend of jazzy roots and contemporary rhythms that first sprung to life in London at the end of the 80s – then grew through dancefloors on the German, Italian, and Japanese scenes of the next decade ... read moreBook

Todd Oldham takes a deep look at the colorful talents of the great Ed Emberley – a 60s/70s illustrator whose work deserves just as much attention as the illustrations of Charley Harper that have gained so much interest in recent years! Emberley has a style that's different than Harper, but ... read moreBook

An amazing testament to the continuing genius of Yoko Ono – a beautiful monograph from a career's worth of work – filled with images that will have you thinking of Yoko as way more than just the wife of a famous Beatle! The book goes back to some of Ono's earliest years – with ... read moreBook

A beautiful book that brings together two different collaborations between these two key figures in postwar African-American culture – writings by Ralph Ellison, with supporting photographs from Gordon Parks – the award-winning journalist who also went onto a much larger role in film ... read moreBook

Think you know hip hop records? Think again – because if you only know the commercially released and vocal versions of the material, then you only know half the story – because among true collectors, the instrumental wax can be even more in-demand! This book opens up that secret world ... read moreBook

An incredible collection of revolutionary jazz album cover art from the 60s & 70s – bold, vivid and unforgettable art for bold, vivid and unforgettable jazz – compiled and edited by Gilles Peterson and Stuart Baker! It's a snapshot of an era in jazz music when cultural and ... read moreBook

A fantastic look at the artwork and style of glam – the movement that's usually known best through its big musical proponents – who include David Bowie, Roxy Music, and T Rex! Yet glam was way more than just a few fuzzy hit records in the early 70s – as the book traces a legacy ... read moreBook

A mighty deep look at the sound of highlife music in west Africa – one that not only deals with the sounds of the style, but also looks at the larger context of change in Ghana – especially as the nation's cities were on the rise in the postwar years! The book is incredibly well-researc ... read moreBook

Really lovely little cartoons – done during mid 30s Germany by illustrator Erich Ohser, working under a pseudonym because of his disapproval of the Nazi party! Yet during those turbulent years, Ohser somehow manages to find the sweetness in everyday life and the happy accident – ... read moreBook

(Spine has a small remainder mark.)

Norman Podhoretz —
Making It ... BookNew York Review Of Books, 1967. New Copy ...
$6.9917.95

A landmark autobiography from Norman Podhoretz – a key figure in the New York literary scene of the postwar years, which he manages to completely dismantle by the end of this book! Podhoretz grew up poor in Brooklyn, managed to make his way up the ladder through various academic achievements ... read moreBook

A fantastic graphic novel created by Norwegian artist Pushwagner at the end of the 60s – then lost for years, until shortly before this publication! The oversized volume is filled with very large black and white images that follow daily life in Soft City – with clear commentary on the ... read moreBook

The city of night is deep and dark – portrayed here by writer John Rechy in a style that mixes beat modes with the grittiness of Midnight Cowboy – all in a long-sprawling narrative that moves from El Paso to Times Square, onwards across the country and deep into the south of the postwar ... read moreBook

A hefty book on the great Otis Redding – one of the best soul singers of all time, even though he left this planet all too soon! Redding's career on record was less than a decade long, but marked by a huge amount of work – not just time in the studio, with the legendary Stax Records ... read moreBook

Japanese record scholar Sanei Syobou is looking pretty darn thoughtful on the cover – as he must, given the care and consideration that went into this project! As you might guess from the title, the book is a discography that focuses on albums with cars involved in their cover art – ... read moreBook

A very cool book on the wide range of Hello Kitty collaborations in the world of print and fashion – products and projects that go far beyond the usual Hello Kitty merchandise – and which almost stand as artistic statements on the nature of Japanese marketing and toys! The book only ... read moreBook

(Please note: these copies have some light wear, but are in fine shape overall.)

Fantastic images of New York City from Jamel Shabazz – the photographer you may know from his classic hip hop shots in the book Back In The Days – working here in very similar territory, but with a more wide-ranging approach! Shabazz is still very close to the streets here – and ... read moreBook

Trumpeter Ian Carr has a legacy that's larger than most – early work in both bop and beat group fields, then a tremendous period of experimentation in the 70s – where his performance and conception helped shape a whole generation of British musicians! Writer Alyn Shipton covers all ... read moreBook

The world of vice never looked so beautiful before – spun out over hundreds of pages filled with vintage images from advertisements for cigarettes and booze! The book is as lovely inside as it is on the cover – filled with a huge array of well-chosen images, all in color throughout ... read moreBook

Maybe the deepest book we've ever read on the life and music of James Brown – and certainly one to really get past the monolithic moments, and really serve up the full details of The Godfather at work! There's a surprising amount of research that went into the project – way more than ... read moreBook

Tubby Hayes was one of the greatest tenor saxophonists in jazz during the 50s and 60s – even though his music only touched our American scene a bit, and mostly had its biggest impact on the London scene that Tubby called home! Yet that doesn't change things a bit – as to our ears, ... read moreBook

The insane story of a one-man Kinsey Institute – a Colorado motel owner who set up his premises so that he could secretly watch all of his guests – while he studied their sex habits from his hidden perch! The story's true, and was presented to author Gay Talese in stunning detail ... read moreBook

A lavish, oversized book that traces the origins of "cool" in West African culture, through its passage in the Caribbean, American south, and up to the New York scene – all in a vivid interplay between words and images! The text is surprisingly deep – more than you'd expect ... read moreBook

A beautiful presentation of the New York sketches of illustrator Adrian Tomine – one that features 15 color prints on heavy paper stock – which is then accordion-folded, so that the images can all be viewed together in one strip, or separated for individual mounting! If you don't know ... read moreBook

An insanely detailed book on the role of drugs in American music – written by a guy who's already written a fair bit about drugs and culture! This time around, Martin Torgoff turns his eye towards the postwar years – looking at the interwoven landscapes of jazz, underground culture, ... read moreBook

A great autobiography from Tony Visconti – the man who made the early records of T Rex and David Bowie sound so great – then went on to have a fantastic life of his own in the music business! The book is definitely one of those "juicy" music stories – as Visconti digs ... read moreBook

An incredibly deep book on the life and music of Derek Bailey – the British guitarist who really helped push the sound of free improvisation forward in the 60s and 70s, then continued with a legacy of creative music for decades more! Ben Watson knocks it out of the park with this one – ... read moreBook

Kehinde Wiley takes his World Stage format to Brazil – serving up a host of stunning portraits that were painted during a time he had residency overseas! As with other entries in the project, the approach here is beautiful – a mixture of older European portraiture and contemporary ... read moreBook

The story of Brian Wilson has been told by countless reporters and journalists over the years – but for the first time, the man himself opens himself up – and provides a view into his life and music that's as heartbreaking and bittersweet as his countless great songs! The book's penned ... read moreBook

A fantastic book on books about UFOs – one that's put together with all the verve and vibrant imagery you'd expect from the cover! Jack Womack has been collecting materials on UFOs for decades – and this lavish, full-color book provides an amazing overview of publications from the ... read moreBook

A fantastic book released in conjunction with an Italian exhibition dedicated to Marino Zuccheri – the legendary sound engineer who helped composers like Luigi Nono, John Cage, and Bruno Maderna realize their musical visions in the recording studio! The book is in English throughout, and ... read moreCD

Brazilian music in the 21st Century is alive and well – and the past two decades may well represent the most creative period in that nation's scene since the early 70s! We've stocked plenty of recent Brazilian albums over the years – but this book is maybe the first we've ever seen to ... read moreBook